Hannah Gordon

Hannah Gordon
Born	Hannah Campbell Grant Gordon (1941-04-09) 9 April 1941 Edinburgh, Scotland
Occupation(s)	Actress and presenter
Known for	My Wife Next Door (1972) The Morecambe & Wise Show (1972) Upstairs Downstairs (1974–75) Telford's Change (1979) The Elephant Man (1980) Joint Account (1989–90) Watercolour Challenge (1998–2001) One Foot in the Grave (2000)
Spouse	Norman Warwick ​ ​ (m. 1970; died 1994)​ Rob Leighton ? – 2004 ​ ​ (died)​
Children	1

Hannah Campbell Grant Gordon (born 9 April 1941) is a Scottish actress and presenter who is notable for her television work in the United Kingdom, including My Wife Next Door (1972), Upstairs, Downstairs (1974–75), Telford's Change (1979), Joint Account (1989–90) and an appearance in the final episode of One Foot in the Grave, broadcast in 2000. She is also known for presenting the Channel Four lifestyle show Watercolour Challenge in the late 1990s and for her appearance as Ann Treves in David Lynch's 1980 film The Elephant Man. She is sometimes credited under her married name of Hannah Warwick.

Early life

Gordon was born in Edinburgh, the daughter of Hannah (née Grant) and William Munro Gordon. She studied drama at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and, after graduating, spent one year at a repertory theatre in Dundee. In 1966–67, Gordon played Kirsty in the Doctor Who serial The Highlanders and made appearances on Jackanory (1969). In 1967, she appeared in the stage play Spring and Port Wine and in 1970 took the same role in the film version.

Film and television career

Her first appearance was as "Zayla" in the first episode of Out of the Unknown, entitled "No Place Like Earth" by John Wyndham, in October 1965. In 1970 she appeared in the film adaptation of Spring and Port Wine. In 1971 ahe made two appearance in Play for Today, Orkney and When the Bough Breaks. and an episode of in The Persuaders! titled A Home of One's Own. In 1972 when she appeared with John Alderton in 13 episodes of My Wife Next Door on BBC. She played Virginia Hamilton (who later married Lord Bellamy) in the fourth and fifth series of the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. She appeared in 12 episodes between 1974 qnd 1975. Gordon also appeared the 1973 Christmas edition of The Morecambe & Wise Show. Gordon would appear in Morecambe and Wise several times over the course of the years. In 1979, she appeared in Telford's Change, another drama. In 1989–90 she starred as a bank manager with Peter Egan and John Bird in the BBC sitcom Joint Account. She voiced the character Hyzenthlay in Watership Down (1978). Other film roles include Alfie Darling (1975) and The Elephant Man (1980) as the wife of Frederick Treves. Her most recent film role was as Kevin McKidd's mother in Made of Honour (2008). In 1981 she starred in Miss Morrison's Ghosts (with Wendy Hiller). She has appeared on television in Goodbye, Mr Kent (1982), Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (1984), My Family and Other Animals (1987), Taggart (1993) and Jonathan Creek (1998). In 2000, Gordon played Glynis, the woman who kills Victor Meldrew in "Things Aren't Simple Any More", the final episode of the sitcom One Foot in the Grave.

Since 2000, she has made guest appearances in Midsomer Murders Judgement Day (2000) as Annabel Weston/Bella Devere, Monarch of the Glen (2002) as Merilyn McNaughton and Heartbeat (2004) in which she played Mrs Barton in episode 5 of series 14, Hunter's Moon.

From 1998 to 2001 she hosted the Channel 4 programme Watercolour Challenge.

She also more recently appeared in the 2007 Christmas episodes of BBC Scotland soap River City, as hotel owner Rose who had rescued Archie Buchanan from the cliffside and taken him in because of his memory loss. In the final episode of series 7 of the BBC series Hustle (2011), she played an old flame of Albert Stroller.

In the 2015 crime drama series Unforgotten made for ITV, she played Grace Greaves, wife of Father Robert Greaves.

Stage and theatre

Gordon narrated Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf in a Christmas concert with the Corinthian Chamber Orchestra at St. James's Church, Piccadilly, London on 14 December 2007.

She was the narrator of the opening concert at the 2008 Edinburgh International Festival – Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht at Usher Hall on Friday, 8 August 2008. This performance brought together the RSNO, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, the ladies of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and eight soloists.

From 9–20 March 2009, Gordon read Nina Bawden's novel Family Money for BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime.

External links

• Hannah Gordon at IMDb
• Hannah Gordon(Aveleyman)